


We See Things That Nobody Else Sees

by MrSpider945



Series: Historical Stuff: Six The Musical [1]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: It's all angst, Other, the abuse thing is just mentions but still, tw cheating, tw emotional abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSpider945/pseuds/MrSpider945
Summary: Being the children of royalty wasn't always sunshine and rainbows- but of course, they won't let you in on /that/.





	We See Things That Nobody Else Sees

**Author's Note:**

> Title Inspiration: Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez
> 
> okay so this is all just a bunch of How Did The Kids Realize Their Dad Was An Asshole except eddie doesn't realize it quite yet
> 
> trigger warnings: cheating (shown on screen) and emotional abuse (mostly implied but still pretty clear it's what they're talking about)

Mary knew she shouldn’t be up and about by now. She knew she shouldn’t even be awake by now. But sometimes sleep didn’t come very easily for the young princess, and she found herself quietly wandering the halls of the castle to attempt to tire herself out enough so she could sleep.

 

This also meant she heard and saw courtiers out and about. Usually she could slip away before they saw her, and on the rare occasion they did notice her, she usually only ever got told to head back to her room, without any more consequences.

 

This also meant she knew a lot of the gossip that ran around court that they usually kept from its younger members, like Mary herself- the kind of gossip you murmur to your friend in the dark of night, with the door locked and having double checked to make sure no one would hear.

 

She also saw a lot of things meant only to those participating in it, but no one needed to know that.

 

Tonight seemed to be a relatively eventless night. She’d nearly been caught by one of the guards- Avery, she believed his name was- but ultimately was capable to slip away. She was on her way back to her room when she passed by the throne room. She frowned when she noticed the door was open, a faint light emanating for it indicating it hadn’t just been a case of her parents forgetting to close it.

 

“Relax, Mary. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, will it?” Mary frowned as she heard her father’s voice, walking closer as quietly as possible to hear better while her father spoke.

 

“I know, my lord, it is simply…” She recognized the second voice as well- Mary Boleyn, a relatively new courtier. She wondered what the two were doing together- she didn’t remember them having any sort of friendship, since Mary’s arrival at court hadn’t been that long ago. Why were they meeting alone then?

 

“Don’t you worry, my love. Catherine won’t hear a thing about this. No one will, if we’re quiet, and take the necessary precautions.” Her eyes widened at those words- they were far too similar to ones she’d heard being spoke while two courtiers shared more… intimate, moments, and very quickly she connected the dots.

 

She flinched as she heard her father’s heavy footsteps approach. As silently as possible, she pressed herself to the wall, using the angle the open door and the wall made to hide from him.

 

She stayed dead still and quiet, sucking in a breath and holding it when she noticed her father reach out towards the door handle, only releasing it once she was sure it was closed and he wasn’t standing next to it. She stayed there for a while, then proceeded on her way to her room, just as silent but twice as fast.

 

Still, it seemed the night wouldn’t end just yet for her. When she was about to start climbing the last flight of stairs up to her room, she was stopped by a hand resting on her shoulder. Turning around, she was met with her mum.

 

“Mi princesita, what are you doing up?” She didn’t sound mad, which was a relief- she’d seen her mum when she was angry, and it wasn’t nice. “It is much to late for you to be awake, let alone wandering around.” As she spoke, she gently pulled Mary up the stairs, leading her to her room.

 

“I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk.” She explained, taking her mum’s hand in her own and following her. “Helps make me more tired.”

 

“Well, next time I’d prefer you’d at least warn me, or one of my ladies in waiting, alright?” She nodded at her mum’s request, then stopped as she opened the door to her room. “What is it, Mary?”

 

“Is…” She hesitated, worried whether or not she should share this. “Is it normal for people to love more than one person?” She eventually mumbled, staring at the wooden floor.

 

She could almost _feel_ her mum’s stare intensify, and for a moment she considered telling her to forget it, but before she could speak, her mum replied. “Why do you ask, mi princesita?”

 

“It’s just…” She sighed, finally looking up to meet her eyes. She didn’t seem mad, just… confused. “I heard dad and that new woman… Mary?” She waited for her mum to nod, showing she knew who she meant, then continued. “They were in the throne room. He called her “his love”. He only ever calls _you_ that. Can people love more than one person? Is that normal?”

 

She watched her mum’s face, trying to figure out what she was feeling, but she stayed oddly calm. “That’s… complicated. There are different kinds of love. For example, I love you in one way, but I love your dad in another. Does that make sense?” Mary nodded, and her mum smiled, brushing  a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

 

“Clever girl. Just go rest, alright? I’ll talk to your father about this, it’s nothing you need to worry about.” Mary nodded, feeling more relaxed after her mother’s promises, and then they each went their own separate ways, Mary to sleep and her mum back down the stairs.

 

Of course, once she grew older she would find that what her father had done wasn’t normal, or alright. It certainly contributed to her growing distaste for her father, which was only heightened when he divorced her mother. And then once she was declared illegitimate… it was a recipe for disaster, and no one could blame her for holding a grudge.

 

Still, she stayed silent about it. Especially while Henry was king- she didn’t want to fall any more out of favor with him.

 

* * *

 

Elizabeth hadn’t even been 3 years old when her mother was beheaded. As a result, she had close to no memories of them together, but the few she did have had an inherent feeling of warmth, comfort, _safety_ , attached to them.

 

Her memories of her parents together were also really fuzzy, but she had a vague memory that kept eating at her. One of her parents shouting at each other, presumably arguing. She also vaguely remembered being held during it. Had it been her mum? She hoped so, but she knew she had to be very small by then, so she wasn’t sure. And asking her father was definitely not an option.

 

And really, that wasn’t the question she _truly_ wanted to ask. She was much more interested in figuring out whether how her father treated his wives was normal. She knew beheading them wasn’t, but… what about the others? The shouting, the ordering around… That had to be normal, right?

 

For years she had no one to turn to with these questions. That was, up until a few months after her tenth birthday, when her father remarried once more- this time, a woman named Catherine Parr.

 

At first, she’d assumed Catherine would’ve been like the others. Maybe she’d try to befriend her like Kath had, but she assumed that’d be the extent of it. But no- Elizabeth found herself being surprised as Catherine fought tooth and nail to bring both her and Mary back into the succession line- and she’d succeeded in it.

 

Elizabeth took a liking to her afterwards, beginning to spend more time with her. Not that they didn’t spend time together before, since Catherine made sure she was personally involved in both her and Edward’s education, but willingly this time.

 

And then, the arrest incident. Elizabeth was terrified when she first heard about it, thinking she’d lose yet another person to that god damn tower, and would have to add yet another name to her ever growing list of people she cared about that got beheaded. And yet, miraculously, she didn’t. Instead, Catherine managed to talk her way out of it. That only made Elizabeth look up to her more.

 

And then one day, the two were sitting outside by the lake on the castle grounds, and Elizabeth was listening to her ramble about whatever book she’d recently started reading. Her mind was elsewhere, however, her gaze focused on the water.

 

“Elizabeth, are you alright?” She blinked as Catherine rested a hand on her shoulder, turning to face her. “You seem distracted, is something bothering you?” Elizabeth hesitated, looking away once more.

 

“You know how dad can be… really loud and angry sometimes? Is that just how people show love?” The words were quietly mumbled out, Elizabeth herself barely feeling like she could speak them.

 

Catherine herself took a while to respond, which only served to make Elizabeth more worried. “He… has a lot going on, and he can’t always stay calm.” She began softly, reaching out and lightly squeezing Elizabeth’s hand. “But he does love you kids, and me. He just doesn’t always show it that well.”

 

Elizabeth nodded, leaning against her and dropping the subject. She felt Catherine’s arm move to wrap around her shoulders. “Just relax, yes? You don’t need to worry about it, I promise.” Elizabeth nodded once more, and the two sat there in comfortable silence.

 

But really, Elizabeth didn’t believe those words. She doubted that throwing someone away, especially when that someone was your _child_ , was how you treated someone who you loved.

 

And the older she got, the more her believes were proven to be true. As she was hit by hardship after hardship- Thomas Seymour, losing Catherine, being locked up in the Tower of London, losing her brother, and then losing her sister, only to be thrown into the roll of queen- she found that people who truly loved each other didn’t leave each other to suffer, and certainly did not cause suffering to their loved ones intentionally.

 

Still, it had been a bit of a shock to finally accept that her father didn’t love her, or her siblings, or her mum, or any of her step mothers. When it hit her, it… it made her have to take a step back, and review essentially her entire life.

 

Still, she didn’t bring it up. By the time she’d realized it, Edward had died and Mary had fallen ill and had named Elizabeth as her heir, and she wasn’t going to put any more burdens on anyone else. She was the Queen now- she had to act like it.

 

* * *

 

Walking around the castle freely had taken some adjusting to. Edward was used to having to deal with courtiers following him around constantly, telling him to be careful, to not get hurt… And yet now, he could tell them “no” as much as possible, and they couldn’t talk back.

 

Because now he was the king.

 

It felt weird, to gain so much power at only nine years old. Two years later, however, and he felt like he was finally beginning to actually do a decent job of it.

 

Of course, getting people to listen took some time. And he obviously wasn’t making all decisions himself. But he had power now. He had a voice, and he could speak to his country and people would listen. That was nice.

 

Especially considering how much Edward grew up in the shadows. Sure, he’d been his father’s long awaited male heir, and had definitely grown up in the spotlight. Prince Edward Tudor, future King of England and Ireland. It had made him feel important.

 

And yet, he had his father’s reputation to live up to. That was a little scary, he admitted to himself as he walked down the hallways of the castle. His father had left big shoes for him to fill, and he knew he couldn’t afford to fail at that.

 

He stopped at a window, staring outside and shaking his head. “Keep it together, Edward.” He muttered to himself, leaning over to look out the window. He knew he had to keep up appearances. Now, he was King Edward VI, King of England and Ireland.

 

He had to support his people. He couldn’t let them look inside and see how scared he was of failing. That would make them worry, or worse- think he was unfit to rule. He was the last male Tudor heir, he had to ensure the family’s power stayed with the family.

 

That’s what his father had told him, anyways. And father was always right, right?


End file.
